Reaping what they sow: mobilising farmers to help the planet and themselves

Tony Rinaudo, Australian agronomist awarded the 2018 Right Livelihood Award

Due to the important role of forests in reducing the risk of natural disasters and sequestering carbon dioxide, restoring drylands could prove essential in combating climate change, poverty and hunger. But is there any solution out there that allows us to restore drylands in a cost-effective manner? Tony Rinaudo will explain Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR), a low-cost land restoration technique used to combat poverty and hunger amongst poor subsistence farmers by increasing their food and timber production and resilience to climate extremes.

Tony Rinaudo is an Australian agronomist who has been awarded the 2018 Right Livelihood Award and is known as the “forest maker”. He has decades of experience in the development and promotion of agricultural-forestry-pastoral systems across a range of environments, including 18 years spent in the Niger managing a long-term agricultural development program. Tony Rinaudo holds a degree in Rural Science from the University of New England in Armidale.

Moderator: Susanna Hecht, Professor of International History affiliated to the Centre for International Environmental Studies, the Graduate Institute, Geneva